We’ve officially made it to the end of breeding season!
We’ve still got a lot of pregnancy checks to do, but the actual breeding part is finished. Whoever isn’t pregnant at this point will just wait until next year, because it’s already just way too late in the season here to be trying again. It’s hot! I’ll wait until we’re at least through all the black dots, if not the heartbeats, to give you a full list of what we’re expecting in 2027, but I can tell you for certain that we won’t be having as many next year. Some mares are retiring, some we opted to give a year off and start earlier again next year.
We’ve also sold all of the foals from this year now except for 2, ironically the two out of our best performance mares. Tommy, the colt by Ustinov (jumped 1.50m) out of Chanel Z (jumped 1.45m and has already produced a 1.50m horse and a 1.45m horse) is looking for a good showjumping home. He would suit someone who has high level aspirations and experience. And then we have Bear, Neville’s BFF, who is by Dia Corrado (1.45m jumper) out of Headleys Chatterbox (3* eventer and her dam was a 4* eventer). A horse by Dia Corrado was just 2nd in the 2*L at Bromont, piloted by Olivia Dutton. Bear is really outgoing and bold and people-oriented, I think he’d be super fun for either a serious amateur or a pro to bring along. Both boys are big and handsome!
As for Neville, I remain obsessed. He is pretty chill and well-behaved for a 5 week old colt, and I’ve been making sure I take 5 minutes a day to put my hands on him to make sure he stays that way. I put his halter on and off, loop his lead rope around the post (pre-tying lessons… we don’t hard tie babies because their necks are very fragile), groom him all over, pick up his feet, move him off of pressure, work on leading where/how he’s supposed to, the word “whoa”, etc. He’s still very young so it’s literally no more than 5mins a day of anything, but it’s where we start.
He especially liked the days where we were bringing his mom in to scan and breed her. He really enjoyed exploring the barn and putting his nose on everything. Like all of Vee’s foals, he’s so curious and confident most of the time. Exploring is his favorite. That and ear scritches.
Honestly, he’s so stinkin cute. It’s been a long time since we raised Presto… hope y’all are ready to give it a go with another foal.
As for everyone else, they’ve been busy too!
Presto and I have been fitting in lots of lessons (mostly jumping, one dressage) and things seem to have righted themselves. I got my mojo back, Presto has been jumping better, and things are really clicking again. We’ve worked so hard at the rideability, keeping his back soft to/away from the jump, making sure he doesn’t lock the bottom of his neck and use it against me, etc.
We entered the Training division at the POP show this past weekend, hoping to get some nice quiet soft phases in. And while he was exceptional on the flat:
he stepped on his shoe at one point, badly enough to where I thought he’d pulled the shoe clean off. Indeed he did not, but he DID rip away a big chunk of wall and loosen the shoe. There wasn’t a show farrier on site, so I opted to withdraw rather than jump him. I was worried that if he pulled it (which seemed pretty likely) that he’d take a god-only-knows-how-big chunk of foot with it. Not worth the risk!
A bummer, but ya know… it’s just a horse show, there will be more. He got his shoe fixed the next morning (it’s not too terrible but there really is very little wall left, which thrills me heading into wet season) and we had a great lesson doing a SJ round and then popping around some XC at my trainer’s barn.
The more exciting part about the POP show is that it was the culmination of Bingo’s month of training, and his horse trial debut! He spent the last 4 week’s over at Trainer’s place getting some expert riding and general sporthorse life experience under his girth, and I think it was really really great for him. He’s confident, he’s relaxed, he’s happy, and he’s for sure understanding the job a lot more. We entered him in the Starter and the plan was for her to take him, run him there, and then I’d take him home with me.
Originally the plan also included her taking Bingo to the open schooling at the venue the day before, so he could see the sights and pop around some of the XC before the show. Unfortunately she had truck problems and they weren’t able to make it. So, I have to brag on Bingo a bit extra here and how well I think he handled everything, especially considering 1) Florida Horse Park is a huge, busy venue. 2) He’s only been off-property XC schooling once before. 3) He’s never been in a dressage ring in his life. 4) He’s definitely never been in a busy warmup ring like those.
He was an absolute professional about the whole thing.
The judge seemed to think his dressage test was boring (literally half the comments were “needs more energy”… HA) which to me is a major win for an OTTB’s very first time in a dressage ring. He scored a 35, which was good enough for second.
During his warmup for SJ he had just jumped his first crossrail when a small, fast-moving and chaotic little gray pony came in the ring and he really thought that thing was a demon straight from hell. Bingo is considerably less horse shy than he was a month ago, but Trainer opted to just go in the ring rather than have him spiral and get upset in the warmup. A bold choice but the right one, because he went in and cantered right around like a pro. I kind of figured he might have a couple rails in SJ because when he’s distracted he has a really hard time remembering that he has four feet, but nope… he kept all the rails in the cups for a clear round.
Then it was straight out to what I was probably most concerned about: the XC. The XC at the Horse Park is soooo sprawling, the start box was next to warmup with the first couple jumps going straight away from the rings/warmup/parking, all the jumps were still well-decorated from the recognized they just had… it was a fairly daunting ask for a horse’s first event and at a brand-new-to-him venue. Bingy really did a “hold my beer” on this one though, because he was foot perfect. He jumped everything happily and confidently and politely, and honestly seemed to be unimpressed by the whole thing. Trainer reported that he was straight and forward-thinking to every jump, and felt like if anything he needed some bigger jumps. Another double clear phase and what do you know, he finished on his dressage score at his very first horse trial to take home second!
To add icing on the cake, he was really good about the general hubbub of the day. He showed out of their big trailer with four other horses and stood on there like a good boy all day. He handled all the noise of the loudspeaker and the music really well (he’s noise sensitive, so this was a big one). He was relaxed and happy and seemed proud of himself. He handled the warmups pretty well too, all things considered. I think sending him for a month of training and having her take him to his first real show was definitely really helpful to him as far as building his confidence and just allowing him to see and do more things. Now he’s back home and he’ll have a lighter week or two, then we’ll be ready to start looking at some summer adventures!
Henny has also been busy too, with his buddy Kathleen. I’ll let her tell you their tales, though.
Trainer will be out of the country for the next month so things will slow down quite a bit here, but I’m still planning to get the boys out as much as possible. The goal is hopefully an outing for each of them every week, whether its for a jumper round or a little schooling derby or just some trot sets on the hills. It is most definitely off season in Ocala, but there’s still stuff to do pretty much all the time as we head into the dog days of Florida summer. Time to settle into that slower and easier summer schedule! I’m looking forward to it.
breedrideevent.com 